"When you work hard, it's very gratifying to get positive results," said Farrell coach Tom Cuffe, whose charges bounced back from last week's sub-par performace in Boise, Idaho. "Our goal today, one, (was) to have a low compression (30 seconds) between the 1-5 runners; two, to have the top five runners finish in the top 10; and three, make sure all the runners drive to the finish line."

Mission accomplished.

Galford, who was never challenged over the 2.5-mile layout (13:05.24), was joined by John Bentivegna (fifth, 13:24.67), Steve Arnone (seventh, 13:26.36), John Lucchesi (ninth, 13:34.21), Alex Lo Presti (10th, 13:37.78), Brian Tress (11th, 13:40.34) and Dan Lewandowski (18th, 13:55.06) in the winner's circle.

St. Peter's was an unexpected winner in the Varsity section, turning back Port Richmond 64-70. Newtown was third with 115.

"We survived a nightmare week of team sickness," St. Peter's coach Sean Lynch said. "We used the Regis and Xavier invitationals as preseason meets ... this is our week one."

In the JV contest, Farrell's Dan Stanilewicz, who was third last year, went wire-to-wire to win his first Cup title in 14:11.62. The Lions won the team race, beating Collegiate 23-37. Sea finished third with 94.Farrell's Brandon Freeman won the 1.5-mile frosh race in 8:12.86.